LSD Soundtrack To Your Night In VOL.5 + INTERVIEW [FROTH]

The fifth ‘Soundtrack To Your Night In’ came to fruition during an interview I did with the sweetest of Californian boys, Froth last Sunday before their show at Sala X in Seville. Formed as kind of a spoof band, now they’re anything but, having released three LPs under great labels like Burger Records and Wichita, touring constantly and making appearances on the likes of Seattle’s prestigious KEXP. Their latest record Outside (Briefly) was released back in February and saw them depart from hazy psych-pop and into a more melancholic direction. The band consists of JooJoo Ashworth on vocal and guitar, Jeremy Katz on bass, Cameron Allen on drums and Nick Ventura on guitar. I was able to pry JooJoo and Jeremy away from the Andalusian sunshine to see how their latest tour was going…

LSD: So how did Froth start?

JA: Basically, we kind of started as a joke because people would always ask me and my friend Jeff, who used to be in the band, if we were in a band and we would tell people “Yes” because we wanted to be in a band. We didn’t play any music but had a band name. A year later we started fucking around, playing with instruments and playing covers. It got a little more serious when Jeremy joined the band because he was gonna record us. Then we quickly found Cameron our drummer and we started taking it seriously, playing live shows and recording.

LSD: What’s the music scene like in LA? It seems like quite a close-knit community?

JA: It kind of ebbs and flows. Two years ago there was a bunch of bands that were constantly playing with each other, we played probably 20 or 30 shows with this band called Corners in LA alone. Then kind of as we all started playing a bunch, and being in a band for longer, we started playing less and less together and so that camaraderie started dying a little. There’s still a super strong community of musicians and I think we’re maybe just a little bit more removed from the DIY scene now, but it’s definitely very tight-knit and there’s a lot of bands coming in and starting up all the time.

LSD: What bands are you excited about at the moment?

JK: There’s a band called Moaning that we’re taking on tour with us next month who are really cool, they’re from LA. We haven’t had a chance to listen to that much new stuff recently but there’s a lot of bigger bands from LA that are great, there’s one band we really like called Black Marble who are amazing. Drab Majesty is another really cool one.

LSD: How does being on the road affect you?

JK: This one not so much, but we were just on tour in the States and we had some crazy drives. We drove from Vancouver to San Francisco one night, and then we drove from Denver to LA after the show because we had one day off in between that tour and this tour and we wanted to be home for a few extra hours.

JA: Yeah that was like 16 hours.

JK: I think we left at like 11pm and got home at 3pm the next day or something.

JA: Somehow historically I drive the least. I’m the youngest and they only started trusting me to drive on tour recently, but that drive from Denver home was overnight and I drove for something like 8 hours, that was really fun.

LSD: How has your latest record Outside (Briefly) been received?

JK: It seems like it’s going pretty well, it’s kind of hard to tell. From what I can see there’s a lot of new fans that really like it rather than old fans, as in the newer audiences really like it.

JA: I think it’ll happen again with every album.

LSD: Do you prefer to be in the studio or to be on the road touring?

JK: I just think the most fulfilling part of being in a band is making music and recording. I mean playing shows is fun, but when you do it every day you can sometimes feel like you’re going through the motions a little bit.

JA: When we were a younger band it would’ve been the opposite, we would’ve been more excited about touring.

JK: If we could do a two week tour every month, I’d be super stoked. It’s great touring here, I wish I could hang out more in places but it’s great.

LSD: What do you have planned for the rest of the year?

JK: After this tour, we’re touring the US again and then coming back to Europe for a couple of weeks.

JA: And then maybe a little bit more US.

JK: Maybe one more festival. We’re basically on tour until September and then we’re hoping that’s it for a while so we can work on new music and just chill and be at home for a little bit.

JA: At this point I don’t feel like I live in LA anymore, we were there when we had that one day off and it felt weird. I live with my girlfriend and she’d rearranged the whole bedroom and I felt like I was staying in a hotel, it was so unfamiliar.

LSD: Who would you have on your dream festival line-up?

JA: I can think of three bands for sure, like if there was a festival tomorrow, I’d really wanna see The Beatles.

JK: Agreed.

JA: My Bloody Valentine, Aphex Twin…

JK: I was gonna say My Bloody Valentine, New Order and maybe Echo and the Bunnymen, they’re one of my favourite bands ever.

JA: I could keep doing this all day though.

Froth will be touring throughout Europe until 17th June, for all dates visit their Facebook or head to their website. See below for the the guys’ selection of ‘Soundtrack To Your Night In’ tracks.